Inevitable
by sapphirerosha110
Summary: When Stefan returns to Mystic Falls, Miranda and Grayson Gilbert send Elena away for her own protection, but she can't escape her destiny.  She just meets Damon Salvatore first.
1. The Return

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Vampire Diaries, this story is written purely for entertainment purposes, no compensation was received for it, and no infringement of copyright is intended.  
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**Author's Note: This is slightly AU beginning with Stefan's return to Mystic Falls.**

It was half past midnight when a knock sounded on the door of the Gilbert house. Grayson woke first, a perpetual light sleeper, and got out of bed already alert.

As he descended the stairs, the knock came again. It was fast and hurried, as if the person on the other side of the door were panicked. As soon as Grayson turned the lock, whoever was on the other side opened it and threw himself across the threshold, letting the door slam shut behind him.

The doctor reached down and roughly rolled over the unexpected visitor so he could see his face.

"Zachary," he sighed, "what brings you waking us up at this hour? Things boring over at the boarding house?"

Grayson heard doors opening from upstairs, and a few moments later was assaulted by questions

"Grayson? Is everything alright?"

"What's going on dad?"

"Dad? Who's that?"

"It's alright," he said, turning and raising his hands in a placating gesture, "it's just Zach. He's probably just excited about something to do with the founder's festival. Miranda, you should probably come down here too. Kids, go back to bed. Nothing to worry about." He smiled up at Elena and Jeremy, who nodded blearily and went back into their respective rooms.

When he heard the doors close, Grayson motioned to the glass double doors in the foyer that led to the formal sitting room, and followed Zach inside.

"Miranda, close the doors please. Now Zach, tell me what this is about. Why are you so panicked?"

"First of all, here." Zach said and pulled a crumpled plant stalk from his jacket pocket and handed it over to Grayson, "for both of you."

Grayson turned the herb over in his hand. There was no mistaking the small purple flowers, or the dry, sweet scent.

"Vervain. Where did you get it? It hasn't grown in Mystic Falls since the Fell's Church tragedy. More importantly," Grayson leaned forward and said intensely, "why do we need it?"

"I got a few fresh cuttings and have been cultivating it in the basement of the boarding house. As for why you'd need it…" Zach trailed off and reached a shaking hand into his jacket pocket again. This time he drew out a small white rectangle of paper, dropping it on the coffee table. Grayson reached to pick it up and Miranda leaned forward to look at it, drawing her dressing gown tighter as she did so.

The caption of the picture looking back at them said "Katherine 1864" but the face staring at them could have belonged to the sixteen year old girl sleeping upstairs.

"What kind of practical joke is this, Zach?" Grayson asked disgusted and threw the photograph back down on the table, "you come here and knock us from our beds in the middle of the night to accuse me of having a vampire living in my house? That's rich, Zach, even for you."

"No no no! You don't understand. I know Elena is human. Okay? I found this picture when I was cleaning the attic room of the boarding house. The one Stefan is staying in right now. Stefan. Salvatore."

"He came back to Mystic Falls?" Miranda asked, her voice turning to ice

Zach nodded violently, then said, "And I think he may be here to find Elena, because as you can see, she's a dead ringer for his girlfriend back from the Civil War. You understand why I ran inside as soon as I got here. If they followed me, I knew I'd be safe as soon as I was over the threshold."

"We have to warn the Council." Miranda said to Grayson, who had begun to pace around the sitting room, coming to rest by the fireplace mantle that was topped with various Gilbert relics, a cigar humidor, and presided over by an old black and white picture of the original Gilbert family that helped found Mystic Falls.

"We have to get Elena out of here. Until we can solve the vampire problem, we can't have the target in the path of danger. Especially when she's our daughter."

"But where would we send her Grayson? My sister is a pothead and frankly, there's something about John that I just don't like."

"What other option is there? My parents are here in Mystic Falls, and yours passed on years ago."

"What about the Bilsons in Colorado?" Miranda suggested their mutual friends who had moved away from Mystic Falls after graduating from high school.

"They have three sons: 18, 16 and 15. I would send Jeremy to live with them, not Elena."

The room fell silent for a moment, then Miranda heaved a sigh and said

"I suppose John is the only logical option then. Where is he these days?"

"San Diego." Grayson said and sighed as well.

"I'll take care of telling the Council the vampires have returned to Mystic Falls. You take care of your family. Grayson, Miranda." Zach nodded to both of them and stood up from the long disused seat. Miranda hadn't held one of her women's club teas in quite some time.

He let himself out the front door and Miranda waited until she heard the click of the latch before she stepped into Grayson's embrace.

"How are we going to tell her? How are we going to tell Jeremy?"

"We'll find the words somehow. She's going to hate us for a while, but I know she'll appreciate it in the end." He replied and Miranda nodded against his chest.

"I'll call John tomorrow," Grayson said, "I'll tell him what's going on. I'm sure he'll have no problem taking Elena in."

"He did always say he felt protective of her. After all, that Isobel girl must have been someone he knew. You could tell by the way he looked at her that she wasn't just some damsel in distress that he randomly brought to the hospital."

"You're right." Grayson sighed again, looking at their most recent family Christmas card picture framed on the mantle underneath the original Gilbert family, then glanced down at the lapis lazuli ring on the third finger of his right hand.

"Why didn't we get out?"

"Hm?" Miranda asked, confused, looking up at him. Fine lines of age were appearing around her eyes, but he still saw her as he had twenty years ago, at the height of her college years. He had been in his last years of medical school and knew her because their younger siblings, Jenna and John, were in the same grade, just beginning Mystic Falls High School. Neither of them had stayed local for college, and for the life of him, Grayson couldn't remember what had made him move back and become the resident head doctor in the sleepy southern town he was born in and had hated growing up.

"Why didn't we get the Hell out of this town? Why didn't we stay in Massachusetts? Settled down there, in Boston. A big city with no family run councils, no vampires, no big history that we're part of, and have to put on a dog and pony show every now and then to remind the other people living here that our ancestors were here first. I hate it, Miranda. I hate all of it. And I hate the vampires even more than that."

"People are born here. And they come back to die here. Not a lot happens in between, and even if it does, it's all related back to the vampires so no one ever knows. Come on, let's get back to bed. We have a difficult day ahead of us tomorrow."

Zach had been looking over his shoulder the entire way back to the boarding house. The childhood stories of Mystic Falls about monsters in the night weren't just tales of the boogeyman to frighten the kids. When he finally passed through the door and closed it, he let out a small breath of relief.

"What have you done, Zach?" Stefan said from behind him, and the human turned to see him standing with his arms crossed over his chest, waiting expectantly for an answer.

"I just went over to see Miranda and Grayson Gilbert." He shrugged, trying to be as honest as possible without revealing his actual purpose. He was a descendent of Giuseppe Salvatore's younger brother, making Stefan a distant great-uncle, despite the apparent reversed age difference. He knew the stories of Mystic Falls, and well knew the vampire lore.

"After midnight, you just… dropped in? On the Gilberts? For a social call?"

"It was to do with founding family business." Again, not entirely a lie; Stefan was part of the original Salvatore family.

"You reek of vervain. Did you tell them that I was a vampire?"

"I…" Zach stuttered, and in a flash, Stefan was face to face with him. No contact, no violence, but having a 162 year old vampire standing a mere three inches away was enough to frighten anyone, even without the bubbling black veins around his reddened eyes.

"Did you tell them?" Stefan asked again. His voice held a note of venom, but Zach could tell Stefan wasn't even attempting a compulsion, because he knew about the vervain.

"Yes. I did. I told them I would take care of telling the council, but I came back here with the idea that I would go tomorrow. I don't believe I'll be getting that chance."

"Well, you're right about that," Stefan said and wandered away a few feet down the hall, "but I'm not going to kill you. I just can't have the whole town screaming vampire, especially since you didn't speak to me long enough when I got here for me to tell you that I've totally sworn off human blood and I'm not a threat to anyone. I just wanted to get to know a girl whose face I remember from a distant dream."

"Forgive me Stefan. The last I'd heard about you was that you'd gone off the rails again."

"I'm afraid I'll have to keep you locked up down here for the time being, until I'm sure that you haven't told the council, and that Miranda and Grayson Gilbert aren't going to reveal the secret either. Give me the keys."

Zach hung his head, and reached into his pants pocket. He pulled out the key ring that held all of the matches to the locks on the dungeon doors.

"I really am sorry, Stefan. It's just… I grew up hearing the stories of the intrepid Salvatore brothers. I came back here when my father died to take care of things, and got roped into caring for this old house. I just wanted to protect my home."

"Yeah, well, if you wanted to cry vampire to the council, you've got the wrong brother. Now come on." Stefan stepped to the wall and allowed Zach to pass in front of him down to the cellar.

"How long are you going to keep me down here?" Zach asked as Stefan closed the steel door, looking at the vampire through the small window covered by bars.

"I don't know yet. You betrayed my trust. I know it's too late for me to enroll in this year at Mystic Falls High, so I'll be staying here the summer. Maybe sometime then."

Zach closed his eyes as the door clanged shut and watched Stefan walk away. The only light came from the torches on the walls. He had a sick feeling inside him that after about three days or so, when Stefan knew the vervain was out of his system, he would compel him to forget that he'd ever gone to see the Gilberts, or that he'd intended to reveal Stefan to the council.

These thoughts plagued him as he sat down on the stone floor, leaning against one of the roughly hewn walls. He closed his eyes and saw the flickering light of the torches through his eyelids. There hadn't been a vampire in Mystic Falls in twenty years, and now it was only a matter of time before Stefan snapped again. He just prayed he wouldn't be alive to see it.


	2. Breaking the News

**Author Note:** **I apologize for not updating yesterday, but the login screen was freaking out on me and the server connection kept timing out. It's all fixed, so, here's chapter two.**

"Mom, I'm home!" Elena yelled as she walked in the front door after school the next day, dropping her messenger bag on the table just inside. At the lack of response she yelled again,

"Mom?"

"In here Elena." Miranda's voice came from the living room off the kitchen and she walked in to find her mother, father, and Uncle John all sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Uncle John," she said uncertainly as she looked around to the slightly uncomfortable faces of the three adults, "what's going on?"

"Well sweetheart," Grayson stopped to clear his throat, "We were thinking that maybe you could stay with Uncle John for a little while?"

"Why would I have to do that?" Elena asked defensively and crossed her arms over her chest. Miranda took a shaky breath, as though she were about to start crying and Grayson reached over to take her hand comfortingly.

"Your mother and I have run into… a bit of financial trouble, and-"

"What kind of financial trouble?" Elena asked, accusingly this time

"It's nothing too serious, we aren't in danger of losing the house or anything. We just… won't be able to live as comfortably, and we don't want you kids to have to go through that."

"Are you carting Jeremy off too?"

Miranda and Grayson shared a look

"Jeremy is already having a difficult time adjusting to high school as it is, we weren't originally considering sending him to another school, but, we can talk to him about going to California with you."

"California?" Elena scoffed, eyes wide, "right, send away the kid who actually has friends, and a boyfriend, and a LIFE in this town, and keep the one who's a depressed loner. Right, that makes a lot of sense."

"Elena…"

"No, mom. Don't worry about it," she threw her hands in the air, "I'll go PACK." And she turned to leave the living room, long hair swinging behind her, and then there was the sound of footsteps pounding on the wood stairs followed by a door slamming.

"That actually… went better than I hoped." John said, touching his fingertips together lightly and resting his chin on his index fingers.

"I don't know if I can do this, Grayson." Miranda said shakily, and her face contorted as she tried not to cry. He pulled her into his arms and cradled her head against his chest.

"We knew this was going to happen. But when the deaths start, she'll be happy that she wasn't here for it."

"I'm going to go talk to her." Miranda said and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. She turned and left, leaving Grayson and John in the living room. They looked at each other and each shrugged, the silence between them growing more awkward by the second. They had never been close given the two decades between them, and they'd barely spoken in years.

"Thank you for being able to come out on such short notice."

"Think nothing of it." John said and put his hands in his pockets as he stood up to pace, no doubt trying to hide the fact that he still wasn't wearing his Gilbert ring. When confronted about it years ago, he said that he'd lost it, but from the way his eyes had darted away and he'd swallowed uncomfortably, Grayson got the impression that he'd given it to someone special, someone he'd wanted to protect, and that it wasn't the ring he'd lost as much as it was the girl.

"Really, John," Grayson waited for his brother to look up and make eye contact, "thank you for being willing to take Elena. With vampires coming back to Mystic Falls, and one of them likely stalking my daughter… I don't know what I'd do without you."

A smile flashed across John's lips, but didn't reach his eyes

"You know I love Elena like she was my own."

"I knew I could count on you," Grayson said and clapped him on the shoulder, then walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water, not noticing how easily the smile slid from John's face as he turned his head to the stairs.

Miranda knocked lightly on the door to Elena's bedroom

"Go away." The voice on the other side of the door snapped.

"Elena…"

The door flew open to reveal Elena, red-cheeked and tear stained, with her whole bed covered in clothes and her large traveling suitcase open on the floor, with the smaller carryon on the bed up by the pillows.

"Don't worry mom, I _totally_ understand. I just called Matt. Said that I wouldn't be here for the rest of the school year because my parents were sending me away to live with my uncle in California because they couldn't pay for me anymore."

"It's not that, it's just that we don't want you to have to go through us not having the means we're used to."

"So, what? Are you going to rent out my room while I'm gone? Will you at least wash the sheets before I come back? Am I coming back? For god's sake, when am I leaving?" Elena threw the shirt in her hand into the suitcase on the floor.

"I don't want to do this either!" Miranda yelled through her tears, pressing a hand to her face to wipe them away, "but it's better for you this way!"

"Right, it's _better_ for me to leave my home, my family, and my friends to avoid what? Having to eat microwave dinners a few nights a week. Yeah, great." Elena turned away and shifted her attention to the pile of clothes on her bed and actually folded the next shirt before tossing it across the room into the suitcase.

She seemed to lose steam, because in the middle of folding the next shirt, she let her hands fall to the bed

"Will you at least tell me when I'm leaving? So that I can say goodbye to my friends? Maybe have a going away party. With cake. I don't know." She gave up entirely on the shirt and crumpled it into a ball.

"There's a ticket for you to San Diego for this Saturday, leaving from Richmond. We're taking care of the transfer paperwork right now so you can finish out the school year there. Fortunately, since you'll be getting there at the end of January, their classes change over. Like a semester, so you won't be missing anything."

Elena nodded, then set her jaw and shook her head

"I don't know why you're sending me. Jeremy has no friends, nothing to uproot."

"We know that you'll be able to make friends. Jeremy wouldn't. And with no one to talk to or hang out with, we're afraid that he would just… go downhill." Miranda trailed off at the end, lowering her head and wringing her hands

Elena's face grew solemn as well. She knew her mother was referring to earlier this past year when Jeremy had come home reeking of weed. He'd been grounded for a month, but it hadn't seemed to affect him in any way, except that he closed off even more. He locked himself in his room, only coming downstairs to eat and go to school, maybe. His sketches got darker, and Elena knew her mother was right. If Jeremy was forced to leave, he'd spiral out of control.

With more understanding, she nodded and made an attempt at folding the garment in her hand before lazily creasing it in half and then in half again.

"I'll tell Bonnie and Caroline tomorrow. We'll probably have a sleepover or something to say goodbye."

"I'm sorry you have to leave Matt. I know you guys have a big history."

"Yeah," Elena said fondly, but there was distance in her voice as she looked over at the picture on her nightstand. The silver frame had been in the family a while and it was slightly tarnished, contrasting against the bright white that was the backdrop.

A comically large snowflake hung by Matt's right shoulder, the side he had turned to the camera, and he almost disappeared into the background from the white suit he'd rented for the dance. The only contrast was the deep blue of the vest and tie he wore to match Elena's formal dress. Her hair was pulled back with sapphire barrettes, and on her left hand was the corsage he'd given her, the three white roses standing out against her tan skin.

She reached out a hand toward it, stopping just short of touching the glass, a smile touching her face as she remembered when they'd been kids. She couldn't remember ever being without him, since their mothers had put them together to play before they could even walk. When they'd been little, Matt was always over for sleepovers, like Bonnie and Caroline. It had been years since he was allowed to stay over, and her fond smile turned into a little smirk as she thought that her parents would probably keep him from being over at all when they weren't there if they knew what the two of them had done when they weren't around.

"I'll be okay." Elena's tone was hard, and she nodded more to herself than to Miranda as she pulled her hand back from the picture without touching it. Then, turning to her mother, she said again

"I'll be okay." And sniffled, another tear running down her cheek as she did so.

Miranda moved across the room and wrapped her daughter in a warm hug, stroking her back and letting her cry into her shoulder.

"I know it's hard to leave your friends and your home behind. We'll get you back as soon as we can okay?" Miranda pulled away and held Elena by her upper arms as she looked into her eyes, to make sure Elena was really okay. She saw a great deal of sadness, but underneath it all, there was the same fierce determination she always had when she put her mind to something.

"And I promise I won't spend the whole time sitting around moping," Elena said and stuck her chin out, "I'll have friends. And a life. And maybe a job." She nodded curtly and gave a weak smile.

"It's not like we're sending you away to a boarding school in Russia, right?" Miranda stroked a lock of Elena's hair, and pushed it back over her ear, "it's just California. You can escape this East-Coast winter. Think of it like a vacation, with school." At that they both laughed together, and, knowing that Elena was at least alright with her relocation, Miranda turned to leave.

When she came down the stairs, she found Grayson sitting on the couch, glass of water in hand, and John pacing around. The younger Gilbert brother never could sit still when worried or upset.

"Well?" Grayson finally asked

"She's going to be okay," Miranda said and sighed, "she's not happy, but, she's going to be okay.

"Why don't you call Leslie and Sheila and have them send Caroline and Bonnie over."

"Grayson, it's a school night!"

"They've stayed over on school nights before. Broken hearts warrant it." Grayson smiled.

Miranda picked up the cordless phone from the end table and made the calls, each ending with the promise that Bonnie and Caroline would be over within fifteen minutes.

Elena had turned on her stereo and continued to pack. It was Thursday and she was due to leave Saturday, so she had a lot of work to do, boxing up her life with such short notice. She was singing along to the music under her breath and dancing lightly around her room as she pulled pictures out of her mirror frame and stuck them between the pages of her diary, tossing it into the box with some of her favorite books.

She stopped in front of her nightstand again, looking down at the picture of her and Matt. She reached out slowly to pick it up, running her finger over a black-tinged petal of one of the roses around the outside of the frame, and stared at it for a long moment.

The sound of a car horn honking outside startled her, and she pulled back the curtains to see Caroline's Ford and Bonnie's Prius parked on the street. They'd all gotten their driver's licenses within a week of each other, despite being spread across several months in birth.

A smile lit up her face and she waved down to them, each carrying a pillow and an oversized bag which presumably held pajamas, a change of clothes for the next day, and all manner of makeup and nail polish. She waved to them, giving them the signal to walk freely through the front door. She let the curtain fall back over the window, then gave the picture in her hand another long look. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard the front door open, knowing Bonnie and Caroline would come running upstairs and into her room any minute.

She let her other hand fall to the knob on the drawer of her nightstand. She hesitated a moment before pulling it open and setting the picture on top of four year old homework papers, a hair tie that had lost its elastic, and a mascara applicator she had long since lost the tube for.

The winter wonderland backdrop slowly fell into shadow and disappeared as she shut the drawer, just in time for Caroline to come bursting through the door.


	3. Bonding Time

**I do not own anything related to Vampire Diaries**

"Hey!" Caroline yelled in her typically cheery voice. There was a reason she was the favorite for being cheerleading captain the next year, she almost never ran out of her enthusiasm, but when she did, it was a crushing despair that only a few people had ever seen.

She dropped her bags and then looked at Elena's room, which had clothes piled everywhere, and several boxes for the harder things like books and trophies.

"What's going on?" Her face fell slightly

"Well… I guess my mom didn't tell yours when she called. I'm going to California."

"What?" Bonnie asked

"For how long?" Caroline continued the question

"I don't know," Elena said, "maybe the end of the school year. Maybe shorter, maybe longer."

"Why?" Caroline pushed aside the clothes and sat down on the bed

"Financials. I'm going to live with Uncle John until my parents sort out what's going on. They said it wasn't so bad that they were going to lose the house or anything. Probably just money from the stocks dropping or something."

"California… are you going to live in L.A.?"

"No," Elena smiled, folding the shirts she'd carelessly tossed into her suitcase before, "Uncle John lives in San Diego."

"Okay," Caroline said and blinked, "what's good about there?"

"It's like 30 miles north of Mexico, and a hundred miles south of cool. They have a zoo. And Sea World."

"Oh yeah, with the big whale… what's his name?" Bonnie offered somewhat unhelpfully

"Shamu." Elena sighed. Family vacations out to see Uncle John always included the Zoo and Sea World, and Elena always hated it. She didn't see the point of going to see a bunch of animals go about their daily lives, even if some of them were cute. They probably weren't even happy.

"But there's beaches, right? Like, nice beaches with a lot of sand and sunshine, even in winter?" Bonnie continued, trying to make up for her lack of knowledge.

"I guess. I don't know. I've never really been out there in the winter. Only once for Christmas. I'll tell you all about it, okay?"

"And scope out the hot guys too." She smiled

"Bonnie," Caroline admonished, "Elena has had a boyfriend for like the last billion years, if you hadn't noticed. By the way where's the picture of Matt?" She pointed to the empty space on the nightstand where the photo from the dance had been.

Elena glanced over and said nonchalantly

"Packed it already," feeling only a small stab of guilt at the lie, and that in itself made her feel more guilty. Why did she feel almost relieved to be going across the country for an indefinite period of time? Was she just looking for an excuse?

She thought back to the picture and realized why she'd been staring at it for so long. Matt's smile was huge, showing all his teeth and he looked genuinely happy. And when Elena remembered her own face, it had been drawn, posed. It was a nice smile, but it was a "smile for the camera!"

"Hello, Elena!" Caroline was waving her hand back and forth in front of Elena's face.

"What?" She asked, shaking herself out of her train of thought

"You're spacing. Come on. Let's order pizza, and I'll put the ice cream I brought in the freezer before it melts, and we can have one last great night before you go off into a whole new life, filled with unknowns."

"It's a sleepover, Caroline, not a bachelorette party." Bonnie raised an eyebrow at the blond, having sat down on her pillow on the floor

"Close enough. Now come _on_!" Caroline grabbed Elena by the wrist and dragged her off the bed and out into the hall, causing her friend to laugh

"Okay, okay. So what kind of pizza? Pepperoni and bacon, or Hawaiian?" The three broke out in a debate over the merits of pizza toppings as they went downstairs.

As their heads dipped below the floor of the second story, a shadowy figure hung in the tree outside the window for a moment, before abruptly disappearing without a trace.

When he was far enough away and around the corner, Stefan slowed to a regular human walk and strode angrily across the town, hoping that the amount of time spent out in the cold winter air would help clear his head, but by the time he got back to the boarding house he was still seething.

He pulled a T.V. dinner out of the freezer which was next to several whole rabbits, still with their skin and hair. He pulled one of them out by the legs and tossed it onto the lower shelf of the refrigerator to thaw, as someone would do with a Thanksgiving turkey.

He poked holes in the plastic cover over the tray and put it in the microwave, avoiding breathing while it was cooking, because while some human food was appetizing, reconstituted fried chicken and mashed potatoes were not.

Stefan pulled the tray out of the microwave, not even noticing that it would have made a human cringe to touch, and dumped the food out onto a plate. He was somewhat civilized, after all. Picking up a fork from the drawer by the stove, he stuck it into the mashed potatoes, threw the tray away, and walked down to the dungeon.

"Dinner time Zach." Stefan said, opening the door to the dungeon cell and leaning against it, waiting for Zach to come over.

Zach reached for the tray, but when Stefan pulled it away, he dropped his hand and waited for whatever the vampire was going to say to him before giving him his food.

"You told Miranda and Grayson that I was here. And that you admitted to, so, bravo. But what you didn't tell me is that they are sending her to San Diego."

"No, I left that part out."

"Yes, and now I can't be with her, because if I disappear from Mystic Falls so soon after arriving, and right after Elena's parents have sent her away because of the 'vampire threat' I will just draw more suspicion to myself, won't I?"

"Yes, I suppose you would."

"So, I'm stuck here for at least a few months, until I can 'carry out my business'," Stefan used air quotations, "and 'leave' so that they will think I'm gone and have her come back. In the meantime, I want you to get all of that vervain out of your system so that I can make you forget that you were ever going to run to the council, and that you thought I was the villain, because I'm not, and I need the freedom to move around this town for the time being."

Zach nodded, his suspicions of Stefan's course of action confirmed. Stefan handed over the food and closed the cell door once more, thinking of how best to bide his time while waiting for Elena to return. He was patient, but the curiosity of knowing how different she was from Katherine was driving him crazy. It was a fluke that he had even known her whereabouts. A high school sports report had come on the television in a hotel he was staying in near Richmond, about how small towns run their sports despite being so far apart from the teams that they play, and a voice from the past had shaken him.

When he looked over, he saw a girl in a cheerleading uniform talking to the reporter and had been frozen in surprise. She looked identical to Katherine in every way, from her hair to her eyes, to the curves of her body that were flattered by the short, tight skirt.

He turned up the volume and watched the rest of the interview, finding out that she was from Mystic Falls, Virginia. Another fact that shot him to the heart. He hadn't returned to Mystic Falls since the 1950's, and was suddenly struck by a pang of homesickness and nostalgia.

He'd packed his bag, left that night, and arrived in Mystic Falls the next day, going to the boarding house that was currently being cared for by Zachary Salvatore. Elena's being sent to the west coast certainly put a damper on his plans for trying to get to know her, but he wouldn't give up. When he set his mind to something, he couldn't be deterred. And in the meantime he could fabricate his explanations for anything that might seem strange or odd, so that he could keep his nature a secret. He knew it was useless to try and hide forever, but he didn't have to tell her outright that he was a vampire. For all he knew, the residents of Mystic Falls were still teaching children to "carry toothpicks just in case" as they had in the fifties.

The vampire paranoia was alive and well back then, but from what he had seen already by being out and about, the prominence of the battle had fallen by the wayside. There was a council of founding family members that took care of any vampiric activity and kept it out of view from the rest of the town, but how they managed to do it, he didn't know.

He walked into the living room and his eyes passed over the glass bottle that likely held either scotch or bourbon. Lifting the stopper, he smelled it lightly and, upon confirming that it was bourbon, poured himself two fingers into a highball glass.

Stefan swirled the liquid around the base of the glass a time or two to release the aroma of the bourbon and took a small sip. It had to be some of Damon's prized aged bourbon and the thought that he was drinking his brother's favorite alcohol brought a smile to his face, if only for the fact that he knew it would annoy the hell out of him if he ever found out.

With a sigh, he sat down on one of the chairs and watched the setting sun as he began to formulate a plan to get to know Elena. Zach, her parents, and this town be damned.

**Double update today: This and the ninth chapter of "One False Step" enjoy!**


	4. California Here I Come

**Sorry for the weeklong delay. Classes and househunting.**

Saturday morning came too quickly for Elena. Despite having spent most of the past two days with her best friends in the entire world, she felt as though they were slipping away from her. Saying goodbye to Matt had been even worse. She'd tried to play the loving girlfriend, but she'd felt so guilty about the picture that she'd really been more awkward than anything else. She told him that if he found a cool girl while she was gone, not to feel bad about it. She hoped that was a gentler way of letting him know she might be losing interest than coming right out and saying it.

Elena had double checked her room to make sure she was taking everything with her that she wanted, and John had to help her load it into the trunk of the car. Grayson was the one that drove them to the airport, John in the front and Elena crushed between Caroline and Bonnie in the back seat. Miranda knew she would have been too emotional saying goodbye at the airport, so she bid her farewell at the house.

When they arrived at the terminal at Richmond, Grayson paid to park the car, even though they could have just been dropped off. Elena, Bonnie and Caroline were talking all the way into the airport about how often they were going to skype and email and text each other. They all hugged each other goodbye outside the security checkpoint, gone were the days of waving goodbye and greeting people at the gate.

"Take good care of her, John." Grayson said, grasping his younger brother's shoulder and giving it a shake.

"I'll treat her like she was my daughter." John nodded and reached into the outer pocket of his carryon to get the ticket information before they walked up to the American Airlines baggage check. Caroline started crying when Elena began walking away, and the young Gilbert blew kisses back at them. Grayson waved, and then led Bonnie and Caroline back out of the terminal toward the car.

Elena hoisted her suitcase onto the scale to be weighed, and John handed over the ticket information to the attendant. She printed out two boarding passes, and slid Elena's suitcase over onto the conveyor belt where it was taken to be put on the plane.

"I hope you enjoy your flight, and thank you for choosing American Airlines."

John flashed a quick half smile before handing Elena her boarding pass and guiding them to the TSA security check. They verified Elena's driver's license, and she failed the metal detector because she forgot about the compact she had in her pocket, but then she and her uncle made their way to the gate where their flight would be leaving.

She opened her backpack to get her laptop, to browse the internet or check Facebook, and John entrusted her with watching the bags while he went to get them both something to eat from one of the places in the airport food court.

When the clock appeared in the corner of her computer, Elena sighed. There was still half an hour before boarding started, at least. She laid her head back over the back of the row of airport chairs and unexpectedly hit her head against someone sitting behind her.

"I'm so sorry about that!" She said and turned around to see who she'd hit. The man who turned around had an angry expression on his face for just a moment, then he smiled tightly and said,

"Don't worry about it." Before turning back to face the other way. Elena slowly turned back to face her computer, then on a whim turned back to talk to him again, but found the seat empty.

"Elena?" She jumped, startled, and faced forward again to see John standing there with three bags from Starbucks and two coffees in a cardboard travel tray.

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?" He asked and sat down next to Elena, handing her one of the white bags that was taped shut, and the smaller of the two cups of coffee.

"Nothing, I just accidentally headbutted someone and went to apologize, but I guess they got up and left already." Elena shrugged and opened the bag.

"I didn't really know what you might want, so I got you a breakfast sandwich and a vanilla latte."

"Thanks Uncle John," Elena said and smiled, "it's fine." She closed the lid of her laptop and used it as a table while she ate.

"We should be boarding soon. You might as well put your computer away, you can't use it during the flight."

"I can't use the internet, I could still use my computer."

"And do what? Write a novel?" Elena shrugged in assent and put her laptop back in her backpack. She finished the last bite of her breakfast sandwich and got up to throw away the bag it came in. Almost as soon as she sat back down, the woman at the desk announced that boarding was about to begin for their flight.

Elena looked at her boarding pass again and found to her surprise that her uncle had purchased tickets for the first class section, and as a result, they were in the first group of people to board the plane. When they walked aboard, Elena put her backpack up in the overhead compartment and they took their seats in the second row of first class. Elena thumbed the corner of the paperback book she'd pulled from her backpack in preparation for the flight, looking around at the other occupants uncomfortably, being the only person not wearing professional attire.

She buckled herself in, turned off her cell phone, and opened the book, leaning back in her seat and crossing her legs, waiting for the preflight speech and safety demonstration to happen so they could take off. John glanced down at the book in her hands and asked

"Why are you reading that crap?"

"Caroline wants me to." Elena sighed and moved the bookmark from the page where she'd left off to the back cover so that she could read more easily. Elena kept her eyes focused on the pages of the book, looking up only briefly for the demonstration. She hadn't seen that the man she'd accidentally hit with her head had gotten on the same plane and was sitting across the aisle in the window seat of the back row of first class.

* * *

><p>Five hours later they arrived at the San Diego airport, but it was only one o'clock in the afternoon. They stepped out of the terminal to find the sun shining brightly, and Elena immediately took her jacket off.<p>

"It's a little warm, isn't it?" She commented as she lifted her backpack onto her shoulder once more, and her uncle shrugged.

"It's 65 degrees. Typical winter weather. Come on, the car is over this way." He said and began walking toward the area for long term parking. Elena had a bit of a hard time keeping up, since she was pulling her large suitcase and he only had a carry on bag.

By the time they reached the car, Elena was panting and had taken off the sweater she'd had on under her jacket. John helped her get the heavy suitcase into the trunk of the black Lexus and walked around to the passenger side to open the door for her.

"Thanks Uncle John." Elena smiled and sank down into the leather seat. They drove out of the parking garage, John paid his parking fee, and he followed a few streets before turning onto the northbound freeway.

Elena laid her head back against the headrest and watched the scenery flashing by. Her uncle took an interchange for a second freeway, this time headed east, and then a few miles later merged back onto a northbound freeway. He finally took an exit and turned left at the bottom of the ramp. After about three minutes of following the same road, he took a right turn and Elena found herself looking at the gate for a private community.

"Bel Étage." Elena murmured to herself, reading the flourished gold words that were on the white stone wall just to the right of the gate. Once the gates swung inward, John drove forward, taking the second right, and turning into the driveway of a house about halfway down the block, waiting for one of the garage doors to completely open before pulling in.

The three car garage was one large continuous space on the inside, and John pressed the button to close the garage door behind him and got out to help Elena with her suitcase. He wheeled it over to the door into the house and lifted it over the step up into the house, then down a small L-shaped hallway immediately to the left upon entering the house.

"I thought maybe you'd like the guest room. It's right next to the kitchen and laundry room." John gestured to the laundry room, whose doorway was directly across from the opening to the small hallway, and the kitchen which was visible from the garage door, as well as the living room just beyond the kitchen.

"I'm sure it will be great, uncle John."

Elena walked into the guest room to find the door to the private bathroom straight ahead, with the rest of the room spreading off to the right. The closet was on the wall that divided the bathroom from the bedroom, and there were two windows, one on the far right wall, and one on the same wall as the door to the rest of the house. She walked over to it and found that the guest room served as a reaching arm that formed a little courtyard in front of the main door to the house, and the double doors that led off the kitchen area.

"What do you think?" John asked, standing at the foot of the queen size bed

"I think it's great."

"Good. I'll go try and make something for lunch. You can get settled in and start unpacking. Make yourself at home."

"Thanks." Elena smiled and dragged her suitcase to a position where she could lay it down and begin hanging things up in the closet, and putting folded clothes in the chest of drawers that was between the bed and the far wall.

The nightstands were empty, and so was the armoire at the foot of the bed, with the exception of a television with dust all along the top, obviously having not been used in a while, and Elena felt another pang of guilt at not taking the picture of Matt with her. The first thing she did was stick the pictures of her and Caroline into the frame of the mirror that hung next to the armoire, just like she did with her vanity mirror at home.

She looked at her suitcase, which was still half full of clothing and other possessions, but she'd lost steam for the moment. She laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling fan, the blades of which were spinning slow enough that she could follow them with her eyes.

Monday was a holiday for the school, and Tuesday she would have to get there early to get her schedule. Part of her was looking forward to the new experience, but most of her was dreading the grueling process of trying to make new friends. Just then, John called to let her know that lunch was ready.


	5. School Days, School Days

**General Notice: I apologize profusely for forgetting about this story for almost 2 years, BUT in that time I wrote 3 novels, 2 of which are available to read.**

**One is The Captain's Bride, and free with a SwoonReads account: m/the-captains-bride**

**The other is called Aetheron, the first book in my trilogy. The Captain's Bride is a prequel to it, and Aetheron is available from Amazon for less than you probably spend on a coffee from Starbucks.**

**Check them out! I'm going to finish up Inevitable here soon, and I'm shooting for 20,000-25,000 words in length. But you know, best laid plans.**

Elena was used to being the girl who located anyone new and gave them a warm welcome, and she felt turned on her head to be the new girl all of a sudden. The woman in the office had been nice, if a bit intimidating with long fingernails and blatantly dyed black hair.

It was only 7:30 in the morning, and classes didn't start until 8, so she found herself sitting in front of the large bay window on the second floor of the library, watching as the center of campus slowly filled with people.

She figured she should probably go down and wander around, making herself available for one of those friendly, helpful people like herself to scoop her up and show her the lay of the land. Were there friendly, helpful people in California?

Elena shook her head and sighed, leaning her chin on her hand and tucking her hair behind her ear. The woman who gave her the schedule said that there were almost 2200 people in attendance at Eastview, and Elena's eyes had gone wide. That was a fifth of the population of Mystic Falls and she felt panic rising in her stomach that she wouldn't meet anyone who had the time to be a friend.

She stared down at the paper in her hand for the hundredth time, Honors Humanities, Aerobics, Chemistry, and European History. The bell schedule had clarified Elena's confusion at having only four classes compared to the six or eight at Mystic Falls, showing that each of them was a block nearly an hour and a half long.

_Jeremy definitely wouldn't have done well here_, Elena thought wryly. Her fourteen year old brother had the attention span of a mouse. On speed.

A loud buzz came from a speaker in the corner, and the brightly colored ant-people picked up bags and began to scurry toward classrooms, some with similar schedule papers in their hands and looking at the sides of buildings for room numbers.

She took the cue to make her way to the L building for Honors Humanities, which the woman had explained was the fancy name they gave to English. When she entered the room she expected to see row upon row of the sort of desk that attached to the respective chair by a restrictive metal bar, and a rack underneath the seat for books. Instead, she found a circle of chairs surrounding two blue couches which were fluffy, if worn.

_I am so not in Virginia anymore..._

Spotting her confusion, the teacher said,

"Please, take a seat anywhere. You must be the transfer from Virginia."

"Yes, I-I am." She stammered slightly

"Well, you do know that I'm obligated to make you introduce yourself?"

"I figured as much," Elena replied with a sigh, and a smile crossed the teacher's face. She was young, perhaps just into her early thirties, with her dark brown, almost black hair was laced with a few streaks of silver and pulled back in a barrette, and wire-frame glasses perched on her nose.

Elena took a seat on one of the couches, and draped her hair over her shoulder.

A few minutes later, the teacher stood up and the students fell into a hush

"Alright, that should be just about everyone. Welcome to Honors Humanities, my name is Ms. Tanzaki..." the door opened and a boy, panting and out of breath, tried to slip in.

"And you are tardy. What is your name?"

"Kyle Olson," he mumbled, and ran a bony hand through the fluffy curls that topped his head.

"Please endeavor to be on time from now on, Kyle. I take my time very seriously."

"Yes ma'am."

"Now, as I was saying. This is an Honors level course, and you will be expected to behave as such. We will have discussions of books, art, music, philosophy and culture in this room, and you WILL respond with intelligent, informed opinions that do not make light of, demean, or otherwise insult the author, artist, or society."

She paused and the students all nodded.

"With that, it's time to take attendance. Since this is the first day of class, I want you all to say something interesting about yourselves when you are called."

When the roll call got around to Elena, she quietly announced that she was from Virginia, and the students in the class promptly tittered amongst themselves.

Lunch time came, and she sat on the corner of one of the many low, concrete walls that were scattered across campus. One of the girls in her Honors Humanities class, Maria, passed her and said,

"Hey, why don't you come and sit with me and my friends?"

"Okay!" Elena hoped that she hadn't sounded too eager, and she jumped up to trail Maria back to a semicircle of concrete that served as a retaining wall along the edge of an outdoor amphitheater.

"Everyone, this is Maria, she just moved here from Virginia, and we have humanities together." She pointed around the circle, "This is Emily, Max, Jason, Steven, Larissa, Megan, and James."

"Nice to meet you," they all mumbled through mouthfuls of food, and proceeded to ask her about her life in Virginia. It was awkward and uncomfortable, but it was a step toward fitting in, and that was something she desperately wanted.

* * *

><p>"I'm home, Uncle John!" She said, stowing the car keys in her purse. John had been generous enough to let her drive the Mini Cooper that she'd seen in the right side of the garage wen they pulled in, and she dropped her binder and bag on the large island in the middle of the kitchen.<p>

"I'll be there in a minute, Elena!" His voice called back, muffled and quiet, and then she heard the front door open and close. A moment later he came strolling in from the entryway and asked

"How did your first day at school go?"

"I think it went fairly well," she said, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter, "I think I'm on my way to having some friends. They are in theater, and they asked if I wanted to help with the musical."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of you getting involved in acting..." John hesitated

"No, no, no. They aren't actors, they're techs. They work on everything else that makes a show. You know, build and move sets, hang lights, that sort of thing. No auditions necessary."

"Build and move sets, eh?" John said and a gleam caught in his eye as he smiled, "are you sure you know the right end of a power tool to hold?"

"Oh shut up!" She reached out a hand and smacked his arm, but laughed in spite of herself

"Speaking of work, I think I might have found you a job today."

"Really?" She perked up, "I'm listening."

"I get my hair cut at a place that is really close to campus, and they are looking for a receptionist. I've done 80% of the work on getting you hired there, all you have to do is meet the woman in charge and impress her with your cheerleader smile and enthusiasm."

"One healthy dose of enthusiasm, coming up. When do I meet her?"

John checked his watch and then said,

"Half an hour. Want me to drive you?"

"No thanks, I got it!" Elena rushed back out into the garage, and John smiled after her. She didn't need to know about the meeting he'd just had in the study, or the vampire history of Mystic Falls. Maybe it was a good thing that monster came back. Now his daughter wouldn't get caught in the middle.


	6. Second Time's the Charm

Elena sat shuffling papers around the small receptionist desk, then flipped the appointment book open with her right hand as she answered the phone with her left,

"Studio 56, my name is Elena, how can I help you today?" She smiled, even though she knew the person on the other end couldn't see her. It helped put pep in her voice.

"Unfortunately Kelly is all booked up for tomorrow," she said, running her finger down the page, "but she has a 1:10 or a 4:00 available this Saturday, would you like to book either of those?"

The woman asked for the 4:00 slot, and Elena penciled it in along with the name, then said

"Alright, we have you for 4:00 PM, Saturday, March 7th with Kelly, is there anything else I can do for you today? Alright, thank you, have a nice day." She set the phone back in its cradle, then looked up to greet the customer who just walked in, and froze in her movements. She tried to recover herself as she looked up into the ice blue eyes of the man, who said smoothly,

"Damon Salvatore, I have a 4:15 with Deanna."

She noted the appointment with a check mark in the book, and then said weakly,

"I'll go let her know you're here."

Elena walked on rubbery legs over to the stylist's station and told the blond about her next appointment, then returned to her desk to find the man still leaning on the front of it.

"You can take a seat if you want," she hoped her smile didn't look fake, "it will just be a few more minutes."

"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked with a smirk and Elena sighed, then laughed.

"I, uh, I think I may have headbutted you in a Virginia airport."

"Ah, that must be it," he rubbed the back of his head exaggeratedly, "I never forget a girl who hits me. You enjoying California?"

A warning alarm went off in Elena's head. He was gorgeous, and charming, but this wasn't Mystic Falls, and she couldn't trust everyone she met. Not to mention that he looked at least college age and she still a sophomore, but she had to be polite to the customers.

"Yeah, it's great, I'm really getting settled in, my uncle has been a great help."

"Good. Maybe I'll see you around?"

More warning bells. Elena was saved from having to say anything in reply when Deanna came over and told him she was ready to take him back for his haircut.

"You know what, I just remembered I have to be somewhere right now. I'm sorry, I'll call to reschedule." He turned and pushed the glass door open, striding confidently out into the parking lot with his leather jacket flapping in the wind.

"That was... odd..." the stylist said

"Yeah, no kidding." Elena shook off the strange chill she'd gotten talking to him, and went back to work.

That night as she was leaving, she dropped the keys to her car when she reached the door. She crouched to retrieve them and when she stood, the man from earlier, Damon, stood in front of her.

"Don't scream," he said before she could react. He made intense eye contact with her and said.

"Forget me, and forget every meeting we ever had. I wasn't in the airport, I wasn't on that plane, and I wasn't in the haircut store today."

Elena felt silly for standing outside her car, keys in hand, zoning out. She really had to keep a lid on that. She climbed in, started the car, and drove back to her uncle's house.

* * *

><p>"You only get one chance at a first impression, ha!" Damon laughed as he took a sip of bourbon that night. There was no electricity in the foreclosed home, but that didn't matter. He could see perfectly well in the darkness and welcomed it over the bright light of day.<p>

He put on some of the better music from the 80's and danced by himself. He could have compelled a girl to come home with him and toy around for a bit, but he was too intrigued by the one who could have been Katherine.

Obviously he had come on too strong. East Coast girls and West Coast girls had very different mentalities when it came to men, and he would have to charm her.

Time to break out the Southern Gentleman.

* * *

><p>Stefan impatiently counted the days, wondering how long he should stay in Mystic Falls to keep the council from getting suspicious. He'd let Zach out of the dungeon, once the vervain was out of his system and he could be compelled to keep quiet.<p>

He made small talk with the Gilberts, and they all pretended not to know what was going on. The Lockwoods and the Fells however were absolutely clueless, it was wonderful.

He helped with one of the town beautification projects, which made him innocuous to the Lockwoods and suspicious to the Gilberts. Why would he be helping? What did he have planned that he was on the committee? Who was he planning to attack?

The game made him sick, but it was worth it for the opportunity to get to know the girl. He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he hadn't quite stopped loving Katherine yet, and the sight of the girl's face brought back all the memories in his flawless recollection.

It was as if the universe was reuniting him with his one love, and he couldn't pass up the chance to know her, to find out who she was, and to see if she could really love him. Katherine was demure and beautiful, seductive and coy, and above all, strong. If there was even the slightest chance that Elena was any of those, he knew he would love her as much as he had loved Katherine, maybe more.

* * *

><p>"What are these?" Elena asked her uncle as she wandered around the produce department and picked up a small green-black fruit with a dimpled skin that was shaped vaguely like a pear.<p>

"That's an avocado."

"Like, that you make guacamole out of? Fresh guacamole, not buying it in frozen tubs from the Costco two towns over? Can we get some?" Elena looked so excited that John had to stifle a laugh.

"Sure, we can get some. Pick out the ones that are just soft when you squeeze them."

"You got it!" Elena turned around quickly and ran right into the solid chest of the person standing behind her, then, off-balance, fell to her backside.

"I am so sorry, here, let me help you up."

The hand that grasped hers was strong and cool, and pulled her easily back to her feet.

"Thank you, I…" she trailed off as she looked up to see messy dark hair and icy blue eyes, the faintest hint of a smile starting on his lips.

"It was entirely my fault, I hope you aren't hurt."

"No, I'm fine, thank you." Elena realized her hand was still resting in his and introduced herself to ease the tension.

"I'm Elena Gilbert," she gripped his hand tighter and pulsed it up and down twice

"Damon Salvatore. Again, so sorry for running into you. Enjoy the rest of your day."

He smiled jovially and thrust his hands into the pockets of his black jeans as he walked away down the nearest aisle. Elena stared after him, and jumped when her uncle cleared his throat behind her.

"Are we getting avocados?" He asked

"Uh, yeah, I just um…" Elena pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, but Damon had already disappeared around the end of the row of bread loaves.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," she said, "I'll get the avocados and catch up with you over in the dairy section."

John's eyes lingered on Elena for a moment and then he nodded slowly.

"Okay"

* * *

><p>"I have a four o'clock with Nicole, oh hey!" The man's tone brightened and Elena looked up from marking him off on the appointment book to see the man she'd run into in the supermarket the week before.<p>

"Hey," she smiled, and found that she didn't have to force it when she was smiling at him. He was a beautiful specimen of a man, that was certain.

"I didn't know you worked here."

"Yeah, I just started about a month ago. My uncle and I moved out from Virginia and he helped me get this job!"

"Very nice. I hope you're settling in alright." Damon hoped that his reiteration of the same vein of conversation would work a little better this time. It seemed to, she'd already offered up the information about the move.

"Yeah, I can't believe how warm it is already."

"That's California for you."

"It's wonderful."

"Have you gone surfing yet?"

"No," Elena replied, "why, could you teach me?"

That was an unexpected turn, and Damon let his genuine surprise show on his face at her forwardness, then suppressed a laugh at how ashamed she looked

"I'm sorry, that was a stupid thing to ask, I don't even know you."

"Well, I don't surf, but I'm really good at drinking coffee. We should get a cup sometime."

"I… like that."

"Say, tomorrow at 3:30 at the Peet's just across the way?" Their coffee was truly deplorable. Then again, most coffee was deplorable compared to some of Damon's favorite brews.

"That sounds good, thank you."

"Damon?"

"And that's me. See you tomorrow." He winked and followed Nicole back to her chair, and Elena cupped her face with one hand to check if she was blushing, then went back to work.


End file.
